In recent years, wireless communications systems have become increasingly popular. Today, wireless systems are used for many applications, from wireless device monitoring to wireless internet access, and in both home and business environments.
In many homes built prior to the Internet revolution, electronic wiring is generally not suitable for high-speed Internet connectivity requirements. Consequently, new solutions have been developed allowing users to establish a wireless network inside a home or place of business so that one or more devices like computers, PDAs and other electronic devices may wirelessly communicate with a centrally positioned device that is coupled to the Internet via a DSL, cable modem, or other high-speed connection.
While the initial bandwidth of devices implementing such wireless technologies was fairly small, subsequent generation devices have substantially increased wireless throughput. Indeed, users can wirelessly connect to the Internet and still experience the same benefits as if wired via a broadband connection.
Yet even with the advent of wireless networks for home and business applications, the wireless Internet connection is still limited by the range of wireless connection between the user's device, such as a laptop or PDA, and the base station or access point. Even wireless applications according to IEEE standard 802.11 only provide for a few hundred feet of wireless connectivity. Thus, even though an Internet user may be disconnected by wires from the Internet, the range of motion still corresponds to the communicable range of the wireless modem access point.
Moreover, while homes and businesses may establish various Internet access points, or hotspots, the hotspots essentially create a hodge-podge of Internet access locations confining a user's range of movement. As a non-limiting example, a user may go to a retail coffee house and wirelessly connect to the Internet through an access point provided by the coffee house retailer. Once the user leaves the coffee house and travels beyond the communicable range of the access point, however, the user no longer has Internet access for the wireless device.
This limitation arises in part because last leg access has historically only been available by wired connections. As technology continues to progress and new applications for such technology are developed, however, users will have greater requirements for wireless connectivity to the Internet beyond the prescribed range as discussed above.
As such options expand, there is an increasing need for various wireless systems to effectively communicate with one another. Additionally, the expansion of wireless networking creates an opportunity for a variety of devices to take advantage of wireless communications that previously could not communicate with other devices.
To take advantage of such opportunities, a reliable communications protocol is needed in the art. Further, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for wirelessly communicating data between wireless devices utilizing reliable communications. It is to the provision of such wireless methods, systems, and protocols that the embodiments of present invention are primarily directed.